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Remember Me Review

Remember Me

Remember Me takes place in a futuristic version of Paris called Neo-Paris. The year is 2084 and mega-corporation Memorize has invented a new brain implant called the Sensation Engine, or Sensen for short. Using Sensen, people are able to upload and share memories – imagine if you fed your exact memories directly to your favorite social media sites. Apparently, the vast majority of the population in Remember Me actually thought this was a good thing, with 99% electing to do so.

While that may seem farfetched, the major appeal of Sensen is not in fact the sharing, but rather the forgetting and remixing – you can have all your bad memories removed or changed. No pain, no guilt, no anger. The privileged few do just that, living a very jaded life, completely ignorant of their past indiscretions and crimes, and oblivious to the world crumbling around them. On the flip side are the Leapers – memory-addicted humans living in the sewers and slums of Neo-Paris. They've absorbed so many memories that their Sensen has actually become corrupted and they've mutated into grotesque subhumans.

You play as Nilin, whose background you uncover as you play. You've been imprisoned in Bastille Fortress and had your memory almost completely wiped – the only thing you remember is your name. While the amnesiac hero is rather cliché, in Remember Me it actually makes complete sense. As you stumble down the hall, waiting to get the rest of your memory taken from you, you hear a mysterious voice over your com who helps you escape – his name is Edge. After a quick chase sequence (hey, it's not an adventure game without one of these, right?), Edge tells you to hop into a coffin in order to escape the facility. As I stated earlier, Remember Me is a linear affair, so even if that seems like an odd request from a guy you've never met, you have no choice. It is while you're being transported in the coffin that Edge explains the situation:

The enemy is Memorize, a corporation that has digitized and commoditized memories. They call it Sensen technology and the world is addicted to it. You follow? You were a memory hunter, Nilin... The best! Other hunters merely pillage memories, but you can remix them! And above all, you are an Errorist, just like me. You were a revolutionary fighter! And my best agent! We all fought to assure that no firm might build a monopoly on all human memories…But I've failed. We were rounded up and imprisoned.

That is how the prologue ends and the game begins. Throughout the game, I found myself not only questioning who Edge was, but who Nilin was as well. Was she really an Errorist like Edge claimed? What if this was all a ruse? Nilin's amnesiac state matched my own quite well. Edge is your guidance throughout the game, in frequent communication telling you what you must do next – he is your mission giver. As it's a linear game, you have no choice but to follow, no matter how suspicious or reluctant you may be. But thankfully, Nilin is equally suspicious and reluctant, which I felt eased my own trepidations. I felt emotionally connected to her and her decisions seemed like they would have ultimately been the ones I made if I did indeed have a choice.